LINER NOTES

I remember the first time I saw Velvetone burning up the stage ten years ago…

I looked at the room packed with dancing sweating bodies, then my toe started tapping and my hands got to clapping then my shyness was slipping cause them boys was rippin!
Then the heat of the beat overtook me and hooked me and I was dancing too!

They’ll swing you they’ll bop you then they’ll honky tonk you.
They’ll tickle your soul, make you reel till you roll
Serenade you so blue with that sound sweet and true

They’ll roll you they’ll rock you – Look out! They’ll cold-cock you
They’ll get you to shout till you’ve knocked yourself out
What they play you will feel – Nothing but the real deal!

Not much has changed since that night long ago, except my good pals Velvetone have gotten a whole lot more experience, touring with and supporting some of the best Roots Rock acts around, and, I’m proud to say, collaborating with me on my newest musical project, The Rabble Rousers. Oh yeah, they’ve also gotten lots better with every year that has passed since then. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor: Check ‘em out!

Bill Collins
New Haven, Connecticut
August 2008

‘Pine Cone’ goes out to the Black Forrest Connection – it’s years’n’years ago that we shared stage with the Liquid Laughter Lounge Quartet at a Swamp Room Happening for the first time. More to come…

Falling Star

Wittke / Wittke-Lüers

I sit all alone in my room, I worry and I wonder,
how many stars in the sky could shine there above,
some of these stars up above must have been lovers, long ago
but is there a star just for me that could be my love.

And she comes from the heavens above,
and it seems she falls into my arms,
but i’m too far to catch that falling star.

I sit all alone at the bar drinking and I wonder,
how many times did I fail to get near my star,
so many pretty girls all around me,
but the one that I desire, for me she’s too far.

And she comes from the heavens above,
and it seems she falls into my arms,
but i’m too far to catch that falling star.

I sit all alone in my room I worry and I wonder,
how many years must go by ‚til I find my love,
I searched and I searched to end my heartbreak,
but even if i lie on the ground, my last hope’s above.

The first time I saw Velvetone was in November ’95 in Bremen, Germany, which is a long way from my home in California. I kept thinkin‘ to myself „man, do I know these guys?“
An old familiar feeling was pulsing through my veins as their band was layin‘ it down to stay. Yeah, I’ll tell you what it was: it brought me back to the days in ’81, when the Paladins were first takin‘ the road from San Diego out to Phoenix, AZ. It was there we found a vivacious scene of about a dozen or so Rockabilly/Rock’n’Roll bands that resembled a camp of banditos more than the down rite hot players that they were – groups like The Geezers, Colin Winsky, The Varmints and Hellfire.
Velvetone should have been there!
Playin‘ clubs like The Mason Jar, Merlins and The Sun Club, all us bands would turn these trashy little Honky Tonks into a Rock’n’Roll riot. We sang about Cadillacs and owned them too. We’d park ‚em in front of the club, all in a line.
Velvetone would’ve had theirs out there.
The clubs would shut down at 1:00 am, but that didn’t mean the jam was over. We’d all head over to The Hell House and jam till dawn, or till it got over 105°F, which ever came first.
I swear I saw Velvetone there.
One afternoon we were cleaning up after one of those nights. We found so many bottles and cans that we cashed ‚em in and bought a keg of beer and some ice, put it in a shoppping cart, took our acoustics and rambled through the town, singin‘ and playin‘ and quenchin‘ the thirst of a massive crowd on that day in 115°F heat …
Yeah, but that night in Bremen last November… It was snowin‘ outdoors, but I was breakin‘ into a mighty sweat watchin‘ Velvetone bring on that old Rock’n’Roll feeling.